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Is it Safe to Declare that Jake Elliott is All the Way Back?
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The takeaway from Jake Elliot’s 58-yarder on Thursday night was how effortless he made it look:
That kick would have been good from 60. Stuff it, Brandon Aubrey!
What’s funny is Cris Collinsworth saying that “you don’t really think of Jake Elliott as a long-range kicker,” which was true for one season. That season was last year, when he went 1 for 7 from 50+. But he was 7 for 8 from the same distance the year prior and went 5 for 6 the previous year, which was the 2022 Super Bowl year, so yeah, he actually was a long-range kicker before suffering one single down year.
Elliott’s form seemed to hit rock bottom maybe in the Washington home game from 2024, when he missed from 44 and 51 while also borking an extra point. He was a legit concern at that point in time, to the point where fans and media were calling for the Birds to go on fourth instead of trotting him out there. Then he opened the playoffs by hitting three of three field goals in the Green Bay game, followed by another 3-3 in the Snow Bowl Rams game, two of which helped push the lead to seven points in the fourth quarter. He missed from 50+ in the NFC Championship Game, but went 4-4 in the Super Bowl and booted one from 48 yards to put the Birds up 10-0 before the KC rout had begun.
Then he carried that upswing into this preseason, hitting a couple of bombs to re-solidify his spot in the upper tier of NFL kickers.
All of that said, we feel safe in declaring that Jake Elliott is all the way back.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com